Computer bill riles selectmen

Thursday

Aug 30, 2007 at 2:00 AM

ELIOT, Maine — Selectman Gary Sinden expressed strong concerns about a $4,500 repair bill for the town's computer server, which had been repaired after it failed and left the town without the ability to conduct business.

David Ramsey

ELIOT, Maine — Selectman Gary Sinden expressed strong concerns about a $4,500 repair bill for the town's computer server, which had been repaired after it failed and left the town without the ability to conduct business.

"We are being billed to fix a 2½-year-old computer that was under full warranty by the Dell Company for which we paid a good premium," said Sinden. "I object to the fact that the company was 337 hours into the repair before Dell was first contacted. ... It makes no economic or technical sense to spend $4,500 to fix a computer that is worth only a few hundred dollars."

Sinden said his main concern was that the service company, Barton Consulting, did not obtain "informed consent" from a town department head or other official when the company proceeded to repair the server. In reply, Barton consultant Ryan Barton explained to the board members the reasons for the charge and the circumstances behind the computer crash.

"If Dell on-board diagnostics do not identify a problem with the computer hardware, then the company will not pay for the repair," Baron said.

He explained the circumstances required that the company respond to the immediate need to get the server up and running in order to avoid loss or contamination of valuable town data.

"The town would have been unable to make the town payrolls without fixing the server and saving the data," Barton said. "Data is more important than hardware."

Other board members agreed with Sinden's concerns.

"It's important to be conservative in our approval of how the people's money is spent," said Elizabeth O'Donoghue.

"I'm concerned with data loss," said Board Chairman John Murphy.

Eliot Business Manager Dan Blanchette said that the company had consulted with him and other town staff during the repair process, which amounted to a kind of consent.

"In hindsight, Gary's questions are great, but knowing where we were when the computer was down, we had to do something," said Blanchette

The board made three committee appointments. James McClelland was appointed to the Eliot Television Committee, Roberta Atkinson was appointed to the Conservation Commission, and Glen Crilley was appointed to the Shellfish Conservation Committee.

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